1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to networks, and more specifically to improving the throughput performance of a CSMA (carrier sense multiple access) based network in the presence of in-band interference.
2. Related Art
Carrier sense multiple access (CSMA) based networks are often used to connect multiple electronic/computing devices. In general, in CSMA based networks, each device senses whether the shared medium provided by the network is available (not used by other devices), and transmits the desired signal when the medium is available. In some environments, the medium provides multiple channels and the availability of the channel may be checked instead. In the case of wireless technologies, a channel may be established using techniques/technologies such as carrier sense multiple access (CSMA/CA) as is well known in the relevant arts.
Inband interference is often present in networks. Inband interference refers to a situation in which another device is causing a signal strength on the channel of interest, typically by virtue of transmitting data to some other device (receiver). In one prior embodiment implemented in the context of CSMA/CA, a device first checks for the absence of interference, and starts transmission only when there is no interference. If interference is detected, the device waits for the interference to end, backoff for a random amount of time and then try to transmit. The throughput performance of the network may be accordingly reduced as a result.
Various aspects of the present invention improve the throughput performance of a CSMA based network in the presence of in-band interference, as described below.
In the drawings, like reference numbers generally indicate identical, functionally similar, and/or structurally similar elements. The drawing in which an element first appears is indicated by the leftmost digit(s) in the corresponding reference number.